The Software Development Edge : Essays on Managing Successful Projects

eBook Information

The Software Development Edge : Essays on Managing Successful Projects ISBN  0321321316 Release Date  13 April 2005 Category  Software Engineering Tags  project,   project management,   projects,   software engineering,   project manager,   "software development",   edge,   software,   development,   0321321316,   essay,   software factory,   managing,   "project",   software development,   project managment,   software release,   project 2007,   csharp projects,   This book @Amazon  View Tools Google Search Web flazx.com

Description Last night I finished an interesting book on software project management... The Software Development Edge by Joe Marasco. It's a series of essays that cover the gamut of "herding cats"... Contents: Part 1 - General Management: Beginning at the Beginning; Computational Roots; Mountaineering; Managing Part 2 - Software Differences: The Most Important Thing; Modeling; Coding; Getting It Out the Door Part 3 - The Project-Management View: Trade-offs; Estimating; Scheduling; Rhythm Part 4 - Human Element: Politics; Negotiating; Signing Up; Compensation Part 5 - Thinking Laterally: History Lesson; Bad Analogies; The Refresh Problem; Not So Random Numbers Part 6 - Advanced Topics: Crisis; Growth; Culture; Putting It All Together; Acknowledgements; Index Unlike many project management books, this is not a "how to" or a methodology volume. It's a series of essays from someone who's been in the trenches for far longer than many have been coding, and he's sharing his wisdom and insights with the reader. So if you're hoping to get a new set of steps to follow, you'll be sadly disappointed. You need to go into this book with an open mind, and look for a few nuggets of truth that will reinforce a point or open you up to a new way of thinking about an aspect of your job. For me, I found the chapter on Crisis (equating troubled projects with a five day old dead fish) and the chapter on History Lessons (comparing software development to a 350 year old ship that sank) quite insightful. Truth may not always be in the place you expect it... I can't say that every chapter held my interest. In Growth, Marasco talks about how the growth of resources on a software project can be projected and managed (and how it gets out of control if you're not careful). Supplemented by a whole lot of statistics and graphs, I quickly got lost and disinterested. That's not to say that the material isn't correct or helpful, just that some of it is more readable than other parts... Definitely worth reading if you're responsible for project management in your current position. It won't be a book you refer to every day on your job, but it will cause you to think about some aspects of your career in a different light... Other books on Software Engineering CMMI Distilled: A Practical Introduction to Integrated Process Improvement (3rd Edition) (The SEI Series in Software Engineering) Designing and Engineering Time: The Psychology of Time Perception in Software From Program to Product: Turning Your Code into a Saleable Product The ThoughtWorks Anthology: Essays on Software Technology and Innovation (Pragmatic Programmers) Domain-Specific Modeling Software Evolution Reverse Engineering Code with IDA Pro Systems Engineering with SysML/UML: Modeling, Analysis, Design (The OMG Press) (The MK/OMG Press) Software Specification Methods Head First Software Development (Brain-Friendly Guides) Path-Oriented Program Analysis Patterns for Performance and Operability: Building and Testing Enterprise Software Requirements Management: The Interface Between Requirements Development and All Other Systems Engineering Processes Software Deployment, Updating, and Patching (Information Security) Managing Software Development with Trac and Subversion